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Ancient History of India
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uddhava Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 142 Location: Paramdham |
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:00 am Post subject: Ancient History of India |
Here is a quote from 'The Gita as It Was: Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita' (1987) by Phulgenda Sinha:
Quote:
The archaeologists have divided the pre-historic settlers of India into two classes: Paleolithic and Neolithic. The Paleolithic were the Old Stone Age people who lived around 35000 to 10000 B.C. The Neolithic were the New Stone Age people who lived around 10000 to 5000 B.C. Paleolithic sites have been found in several parts of India, such as Madurai, Tanjore, Kadur, around Madras in the South and also in the states of Hyderabad (now Andhra), Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Madhyapradesha…. Paleolithic men lived near rivers, lakes, and caves. They ate roots, fruits, nuts, and the flesh of wild animals. Cave paintings representing hunting scenes, drawings of animals, and human dancing postures have been found near Raigarh in Madhyapradesha and in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. Neolithic settlements have been found throughout India. The Neolithic people made sketches of birds, beasts, and human beings. They hunted, fished, and domesticated animals. In their later period, they developed agriculture and began growing fruits, vegetables, and crops. They consumed animals, fish, and milk. The Neolithics worshipped ancestral spirits and performed rites on the occasion of death. Stone-worship was common among them. But they also worshipped the phallus. They performed both animal and human sacrifices. Some of these Neolithic people were driven into the hills and forests by latter-day invaders, and their descendants still live in those places.… The New Stone Age period gradually ended when these people began making tools from metal. F. E. Zeuner in his Prehistory in India writes that "the Late Stone Age continued in some parts of India while city civilizations like that of the Indus Valley were flourishing." The metal age emerged in a gradual way out of the New Stone Age. While the use of some stone tools was still in practice, the people of northern India began making axes, swords, spear-heads, and various other implements from copper. Iron working came much later. According to Mahajan, there was a difference in the sequence of change from stone age to metal age between North and South India. In northern India, stone was replaced first by copper and then by iron. But in southern India, stone tools were directly replaced by iron tools. Another historian, Waryam Singh, is of the view that "copper tools were in use in India as early as 2000 B.C. and iron was brought into use about a thousand years later, i.e., in 1000 B.C." 6 Mahajan agrees with this view by saying, "the Copper Age probably started about 4,000 years ago." There is some difference of opinion among the historians in identifying the most ancient people of India. Most historians agree that the Kolarians were the first inhabitants of India. Their descendants are scattered in several parts of the country even now, and are known by different tribal names. Bhils live in Rajputana and in the Vindhya hills, Gonds live in Central India, and Santhals live in Orissa and in certain parts of Bihar... Besides the Kolarians, there is another group of people called Dravidians who are also regarded by many historians as among the original inhabitants of India. They were spread all over India and had developed a rich civilization in certain areas before the coming of the Aryans… The religion of the Dravidians differed from the Kolarians. They worshipped earth, stone, and trees...The worship of snakes and the linga (phallus) was common among the Dravidian, as was the worship of grama devatas (village divinities). These divinities of the Dravidians had no temples or priests. The sacrifices and oblations were made at sowing and harvesting time for rain, fair weather, or the prevention of diseases. Grama devatas were represented by a heap of stones, generally in a grove or at a quiet spot near every village. Since the date of [the Indus Valley] civilization is generally accepted to be 3000 B.C., its excavation has revealed a great deal about various aspects of human life in ancient India. The centers of this civilization have been found near the Indus River, now in Western Punjab. The earliest excavations began at Harappa and Mohenjodaro during 1922-1924 and continued for several years. In recent years, more than 60 further sites of this civilization have been excavated. According to Walter A. Fairservis, Jr., nearly 1,000 Harappan sites have been located… The findings of these excavations reveal that it was a highly developed urban civilization. The city was well planned, with paved roads, underground drainage and sewage systems, public bathing places, double-storied brick buildings, and a stable system of government. Though iron was not used by the people of this civilization, they could make weapons of bronze and copper… As regards the religious practices of this civilization, Indian historians seem to agree that the pipal (a kind of tree) god was the major deity of the Indus age… There are several views regarding the disappearance of the Indus Valley civilization. Some hold the view that it was destroyed by flood, and some are of the opinion that invaders destroyed this culture and subjugated the people. When this civilization vanished, the Aryans arrived…There is still great controversy among historians about who the Aryans were and from where they came. One long-held view has been that the Aryans originally lived in Central Asia…. Carrying fire and sword, the Aryans exterminated many of the original inhabitants. There is a reference to the wars between Aryans and non-Aryans in the Rig Veda… The number of Aryans who went to South India was not very large, and, as the people were not Aryanized, the Dravidian culture there remained dominant. There is a difference of opinion among historians regarding the date of the Aryans' arrival in India. Some hold that they might have entered India sometime between 2500 and 1500 B.C. The earliest work of the Aryans is called Vedas; and it may have been composed between 1200 and 600 B.C…
uddhava Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 142 Location: Paramdham |
Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2005 9:39 am Post subject: |
While we can't be certain about dates, the basic pattern of human civilisation seems to be something like Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, that is, an improvement in technology over time. Archeological evidence around the world suggests the existence of somewhat primitive people who made tools out of stone, presumably because they didn't know any better. I'm not sure how this fits with the BK view of history as a 5000 year cycle. Firstly, 5000 years seems way too short but also the cycle asserts a steady decline or degeneration. So is technology excepted from this general decline? Then what about Stone Age weapons - according to the BK cycle, violence is a result of the decline from a historical paradise.
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